I am so sorry that this took forever. I just haven't been in the right mindset for writing lately. Plus I've been to my aunt's house and left all my stuff behind, so that's why I didn't update yesterday or the day before. I am so sorry. But anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you like it, I think I rambled on a little.

Chapter 11; That New Guy

The next few days passed without incident. And I do mean that, when Monday and Tuesday rolled around I still hadn’t spoken to Frank. I mean, of course I had spoken to him, but I hadn’t let on anything about... well, stuff. I’d instead taken to venting my feelings about Frank to Penina.

By the time Wednesday had rolled around, she was almost dying of annoyance. She was the only person I spoke to properly - Jenna, I could talk to sometimes, but she had a massive mouth and she couldn’t help but gossip. I didn’t want to trust her with... well, anything. So I’d been ranting on for four whole days and I think Penina was ready to snap.

“Why don’t you just tell him?” she hissed as we walked into Drama on Wednesday.

“Because I don’t know what he’d say,” I said.

“He’s sitting just there. Why don’t I tell him?”

“No!” I said, sitting down in the theater next to our friends.

“What are you two whispering about?” asked Frank.

“Well, Gerard has...”

“Nothing,” I said, putting my hand over Penina’s mouth. I glared at her and shook my head.

“It’s not that simple, Penina. What if I freak him out? He told me about his family, and they’re catholic.”

“So?”

“In the sense that they might disown him.”

“Gerard and Penina, please stop talking!” said Miss James. I scowled at Penina and turned to the front.

“Just pull yourself together and tell him already,” Penina whispered as Miss began talking.

“Alright, guys. I tallied together the results, and we ended up with three top plays to do We can only do two, unless you’re willing to work extra time for them,” said Miss James, placing her hands on her hips. “We have...”

“Grease!” shouted Anna hopefully. Miss James grinned.

“Yes, we have Grease-” I groaned, “-And we also have Rock of Ages and Little Shop of Horrors.”

“Miss, you’re being a little bit hypocritical,” I said. She rolled her eyes at me and threw a scrunched up ball of paper at my head.

“I’m the teacher, I can say whatever the heck I like. Now, We only really have time to do two of these productions, because I don’t think many of you would want to come in and work on the plays at the weekend. And I also think we should do Rock of Ages because a) it’s fun and b) Gerard looks like he’d murder something if I didn’t choose it,” said Miss. I laughed and sat back.

“Thanks, Miss.”

“So, I guess that’s just left between Grease and Little Shop of Horrors...”

“Guys, let’s do Grease,” said Anna, turning around to face us. I shrugged.

“If you want, but there’s no way I’m taking part in it,” I said. Anna frowned.

“We both feel like doing Little Shop of Horrors anyway,” said Penina, looking at me. I nodded, as did Ray and Mikey.

“Same,” said Frank. Anna glared between the five of us, before rolling her eyes.

“Okay, we need to take a vote guys. So, everyone who wants Grease, hands up.” About half of the hands in the room went up. “And for Little Shop Of Horrors?” The other half went up, including Anna’s, although very reluctantly.

“That was seriously close guys. But it turns out that twelve of you chose Grease, and fourteen chose Little Shop Of Horrors.”

“SHIT! If I’d chosen Grease it would have been a tie and I could have bullied you all into doing it!” cried Anna, waving her arms around in the air. Frank, Penina and I burst out laughing. Ray and Mikey both scooted over on the theater seats to get away from Anna.

“Well, sorry Anna, but Little Shop Of Horrors it is,” said Miss James, grinning. My friends and I cheered, and the other half of the hall groaned.

“Guys!” said Miss James impatiently. “Can you let me try and talk for at least five minutes without being interrupted? Please? Okay. So, we’re going to be doing Rock of Ages at the end of the year, and Little Shop Of Horrors at Christmas. Sound good?” We all murmured with consent.

“Miss?” asked Penina, waving her hand. “Can I be a Diva?”

“Well, we’ll be doing auditions at lunchtime, so you’ll have to wait until then.”

“Lunchtime?”

“Well, yeah. You guys obviously get priority in the places you get, but we have to let everyone else join in if they want.”

“I think Gerard should be Seymour,” said Penina. I looked around at her, shocked.

“What?”

“You’d be perfect. You’re a bit nerdy, you’re admiring your love from afar, and you can sing...”

“Okay guys, come in!” said the young drama assistant, ushering us into the theater. We’d be doing our auditions backstage, so we didn’t have to cope with everyone else laughing at us - namely Jenna.

I smiled at the young assistant who ushered us into the room. He couldn’t have been more than a few years older than me, he was dressed very smartly in skinny trousers, close fitting shirt, skinny tie... I had to turn around and look back. He was very good looking. He looked over at me; I caught his eye, and he smiled at me.

Wowza.

____________________

Frank’s POV

I could almost feel the jealously fighting to make me go and hit the drama assistant in the face. He’d caught Gerard’s eye literally within the first three seconds of him opening the door, and I’d even seen Gerard look back - twice - at him. And the git even smiled at Gerard. Okay, yes the assistant was good looking, but still...

Oh for crying out loud. Yes, Gerard was gay, but he had shown no interest whatsoever in me. Perhaps that was who he was arguing about with Penina - perhaps he knew the drama assistant. Oh crap. What if they both fancied each other and they were hiding it? That made sense.

“Oh, shut up,” I muttered. Gerard and Jenna, who were both talking loudly about something, stared at me.

“Bit rude,” said Jenna.

“What?”

“Telling us to shut up.”

“No, it’s the voices in my head, they’ve been annoying me again.”

“I see...” said Jenna raising her eyebrows. She turned to whisper something in Gerard’s ear, and he blushed. “Oh by the way, I saw you checking out the new assistant.” Gerard bowed his head sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders, and the jealousy began to bubble again.

“Yeah. He’s a bit cute,” he said. I said nothing, but I turned my gaze to the assistant. He was very handsome, in a sort of geeky way. Not my type, I thought, looking back at Gerard.

“Well, Frankie?”

“Huh?”

“What do you think about the new assistant? Hot or not?”

“I...” Hang on, since when had I told everyone else that I was gay? I hadn’t! I glared at Gerard, furious that he wold have spread it around.

“Hey, what are you glaring at me for?”

“You had to go around and tell everyone about...” I could’t speak, so I just gestured around awkwardly. Jenna laughed.

“He hasn’t said a thing! Girls have wonderful gaydars, it was obvious since you walked into our classroom on the first day. You just gotta look for those little signs,” she said, looking quickly at Gerard - who evidently hadn’t heard a thing and was tying his shoelaces.

“What?!” Was I really that obvious?!

“Come on, Frankie, me and Penina know Gee the best out of anyone. We can tell if someone’s got their eye on him,” she said. I felt my cheeks heat up.

“I’ll tell you after school,” she said. Gerard was preoccupied with the arrival of Penina, who had just come out of the audition hall. I sighed and made my way down.
____________________

“Okay, guys, we have the results!” announced Miss James, at our next Drama session that afternoon. It seemed as if Drama had no particular timetable, they just organized the lessons whenever they felt like it.

“How did you do in the auditions, do you think?” asked Gerard suddenly, watching the front as the new drama assistant began to read out the results, starting from smallest parts first.

“Okay, I only want to do behind-the-scenes stuff for this one,” I said.

“Penina Dayne, Sapphire Mitchells, Anna Carlise, as the three Divas...”

“No fair!” shouted Sydney Rhys from the front row, where she sat with her fellow whores.

“Why couldn’t it be us three?” asked Sapphire, gesturing to her, Sydney and Candace, pouting.

“Because I don’t want you three to work together,” said Miss James. “Anyway, please continue.”

Sydney ended up getting the role of backup dancer; she wasn’t pleased about that.

I got the role of backstage music, and so did Ray - we were fine with that.

One of the drama nerds got the flower shop owner. Another one got the evil dentist.

Gerard got Seymour.

And Candace Kyrimoto got Audrey.

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Why didn’t Gerard got the dentist? It would suit him better. I think most people agreed with me, as they all looked at each other in disbelief.

Gerard and Candace were staring at each other, oddly confused expressions on both of their faces. And that’s when it hit me.

Gerard would have to pretend to be in love with Candace. He would have to act like it. He would have to kiss her.

I wanted to hit something.

Urgh. There goes. Again, I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. And I probably won't for a few weeks - I'm going camping! And the campsite has no wifi O.O IMA DIE. If I do well enough, you may have a new chapter before I go, but I can't promise anything.